"Eat it," he said. There was a rustle of slave bells. She complied with the dictum of her master.
"It was destined for the table of Marlenus of Ar," said Rask of Treve. "Yes, Master," said the girl.
She stood facing him.
Verna and I watched.
"Remove your garment," said Rask of Treve.
"Please, Master," she begged.
"Remove it," said Rask of Treve.
The beautiful, olive-skinned girl parted the garment and dropped it to one side. "You may now dance, Talena," said Rask of Treve.
The girl danced.
"She is not bad, said Verna.
"Do you know who she is?" asked Rask of Treve, eating a piece of meat. "No," said Verna. "Who is she?"
"Talena," said Rask, smiling, "the daughter of Marlenus of Ar."
Verna looked at him, dumbfounded, and then she laughed a great laugh, and slapped her knee. "Splendid!" she cried. "Splendid!"
She leaped to her feet and, closely, moving about her, examined the girl as she danced, now slowly, to a barbaric, adagio melody. "Splendid!" cried Verna. "Splendid!"
Now the melody became more swift, and it burned like flame in the girl's slave body.
"Give her to me!" cried Verna.
"Perhaps," said Rask of Treve.
"I am the enemy of Marlenus of Ar!" cried Verna. "Give her to me!"
"I, too, am the enemy of Marlenus of Ar," said Rask. He held out his goblet and I, the meat on which I was feeding clenched between my teeth, filled it. "I will well teach her the meaning of slavery in the northern forests!" cried Verna.
I could see fear in the girl's eyes, as she danced. I continued to eat the piece of meat on which I had been feeding.
She was beautiful and helpless as she danced, before her enemies. The firelight glinted on her collar, which had been placed on her throat by Rask of Treve. But I did not feel sorry for her. She was no business of mine. She was only another slave.
"I have taught her something of slavery already," smiled Rask of Treve. The girl's eyes seemed agonized, as she danced.
"How is she?" asked Verna, who had now again resumed her place, seating herself cross-legged by Rask of Treve's side.
"Superb," said Rask of Treve.
Humiliation and shame shone in the eyes of the dancing slave girl.
"Where did you get her? asked Verna.
"I acquired her about a year ago," said Rask of Treve, "from a merchant of Tyros, who was traveling by caravan overland to Ar, with the intention of returning her, for a recompense, to Marlenus of Ar."
"What did she cost you?" asked Verna.
"I do not buy women," said Rask of Treve.
I shuddered.
"It is marvelous!" cried Verna. "Your secret camp lies within the very realm of Ar itself! Splendid! And in this camp you keep the daughter of your worst enemy, the daughter of the Ubar of great Ar itself, as slave! Magnificent!" I watched the girl dancing, the slave.
Rask clapped his hands again, twice, sharply. The musicians stopped, and the girl stopped dancing. "This is enough, Slave Girl," he said.
She turned to flee from the tent.
"Do not forget your garment, Girl," said Verna.
The slave girl reached down and snatched up the bit of red silk she had dropped aside and, holding it, with a jangle of slave bells, fled from the tent of her master.
Rask of Treve, and Verna, laughed.
I had finished my meat.
They again held out their goblets, and I again filled them.
"Tonight," said Rask of Treve to me, "because we have brought in new prisoners, there will be feasting and pleasure."
"Yes, Master," I said.
"So go to Ute," he said, "and tell her to lock you in the shed."
"Yes, Master," I said.
"Why do you not give Talena to me? asked Verna, of Rask of Treve.
"Perhaps I shall," said Rask of Treve. "I must think about it."
I left the tent, to find Ute, to tell her to lock me in the shed.
The next day, for the first time, on a leash with another girl, Techne, a girl of Cos, I was permitted beyond the palisade. A guard was with us, and we were charged with filling our leather buckets with ram-berries, a small, reddish fruit with edible seeds, not unlike tiny plums, save for the many small seeds. I had picked such berries before, with Targo's caravan. Indeed, the first fruit on Gor I had eaten had been such berries.
I was pleased to be outside of the palisade. The day was beautifully warm, and I felt happy.
I had often begged Ute to be permitted to go beyond the palisade to pick fruit. But, always, she had, for some reason, forbidden me this permission. "I will not escape," I had assured her, irritably. "I know," she had said. What then could have been her objection? At last, she had yielded to my entreaties and permitted me, leashed to Techne, to go beyond the stockade and pick berries. It was glorious to be outside the stockade, even though fastened by a leather neck strap to another girl. Moreover, today, two more female prisoners had been brought in, girls who had been fleeing from unwanted companionships, arranged by their parents. There would be another feast, as there had been last night, and this time Ute had told me that, if the berry picking went well, I need not be locked in the shed early this night. I would be permitted, late, to serve the feasters. I was pleased that the two girls had been captured. "I suppose I must be placed in silk then," I had said to Ute, angrily. "And slave bells," had added Ute.
How furious I had been!
"I do not wish to serve men," I had told Ute. "Moreover, I do not wish to serve them clad revealingly in a bit of silk and the bells of a slave girl!" "Well," said Ute, "you may, if you wish, remain in the shed."
"I suppose it is not fair to the other girls," I had said, "that I should be permitted to remain in the shed while they are forced to serve, so clad and belled."
"Do you wish to serve or not?" has asked Ute.
"I will serve," I had said, with an air of defeat.
"You will then be silked and belled," she said.
"Very well," I had said, dropping my head with resignation. I found myself looking forward eagerly to the evening.
I am sure that I would be among the most beautiful of all the girls. I wondered, if in silk and bells, Rask of Treve might notice me. How I hated him! "But," had said Ute, "if a man seizes you, you are not to yield yourself to him, for you are white silk."
A flash of irritation passed through me. "I am charged with the protection of my market value?" I asked, ironically.
"Yes," said Ute, matter-of-factly. "Though I, if I were a man, would pay more for a red-silk girl."
"I must do nothing," I said, "to diminish the investment of Rask of Treve?" "That is correct," said Ute.
"What if I am simply seized, and my attacker is not prepared to listen to reason? I asked. Ute laughed. It was the first time I had seen her laugh in the camp. I was pleased I had made her laugh.
"Cry out," said Ute, "and others will take you from him and get him a red-silk girl."
"All right," I had said.
Ute had then said to the guard, "Leash her." And I and Techne, leashed together, had been taken from the stockade. "Be careful, El-in-or," Ute had called after me.
I did not understand her. "All right," I had called back to her.
I now felt a tug on the neck strap. "Hurry, El-in-or," said Techne. "We must be back soon! Our buckets are not half filled!
I was irritated with Techne. She was young. She was a lovely slave, though fresh to the collar.
The sun was warm and its heat went through me, and I stretched happily. When neither the guard nor Techne were looking I stole berries from her buckets, to put in mine, handfuls. Why should I work as hard as she? Also, when they were not looking, I placed berries in my mouth, taking care that the juices not stain my lips, revealing that I had eaten them. I had done this sort of thing often before, when I had picked berries for Targo's caravan. Ute and the guard had never seen. I had fooled them all. I was too clever for them!